The Creation of "Facing Our Age"

For “Facing Our Age”, the art really is in the process. This installation on what it’s like to be your age is a correspondence between the artist and the audience. Everyone who comes to see “Facing Our age” can become a part of it by answering the question “What things do you associate with being your age?”

The process of creating “Facing Our Age” began with that initial question, sent out in a survey also asking for the age, gender and location of participants. With the collection of that information began the journey to find a way to present it and invite further participation from a new audience.

The finished structure is a culmination of many shopping trips, brainstorming sessions, and adaptations. Early in the process a grid structure was established as ideal base for presenting the data, and sheets of re-mesh became the foundation. Tied together with bamboo and crawling ivy to represent growth, the re-mesh became a malleable wall.

One of the greatest challenges in the construction of the piece was finding the right object to write each set of information on. Many objects were tested, including birthday cards, tiles, and mirrors, but the winning candidate was the innocuous cupcake foil. Inexpensive, light, reflective and whimsical, the foils became shining tokens presenting each participants experience of their own age.

With the structural aspects of the installation well under way, it was time to clarify the performative and participatory elements. Taking the theme of aging, artist Kali Quinn brought in the idea of birthdays. Each section of re-mesh would contain one decade of life, designated by birthday candles ascending from 0-100.

Now, each night of a Ko Festival performance, installation attendants wearing party hats and ribbons  welcome audience members and encourage them to share their own experience of their age. Continuing in the theme of birthdays, participants are welcomed by the attendants to select a new age to be for the night. They can be younger, older, or stay their own age if they wish. Each participant receives a badge with their new age, and rings a bell to signify the change for the night.

Through its evolution, “Facing Our Age” has become a way to express the shared and divergent experiences of a variety of people from every decade of life. 

- Nate Gibson